Day 29

                                                                    

                                                                                Day 29
                                                                  Dunkirk, NY to Batavia, NY
                                                                     83 miles, Avg speed 18.0

     It was a dreary day, no question about it.  The skies were overcast with occasional sprinkles, but no downpours.  I decided not to bring a raincoat with me, choosing instead to thumb my nose at the weather.  The axiom in cycling is that if you bring your raincoat, it won't rain, and if you don't then it will.  I chose to ignore that adage and dealt with knowns.  In this case the known is that my raincoat is bulky and won't  compress easily into the jersey pocket.  In fact with it crammed into the middle jersey pocket, it appears that the only explanation for this is that I have a large lumbar tumor and should likely seek treatment right away.  Thus I took a calculated gamble that if it did rain, it likely would be light and I wouldn't get cold.  My gamble paid off as this is pretty much what happened. 
     In spite of an excellent day of cycling the day before, the effects of 140 miles still lingered in my legs as we set out.  The game plan was to take it easy.....active recovery.  I caught up to UK Steve and Simon early  on and we stuck together for the remainder of the ride.  We knew it was going to be a short day, even with a later start time than usual.   There were really no sights to see along the way, unless you consider the sight of Steve giving it a yeoman's effort to change two flats occurring one mile apart involving different wheels.  In both cases an ABB van arrived with its highly valued floor pump.  Jim joked with us that they have tracking devices on all of us that show our location on a big screen in the van.  The occurrence of two flats was a deflating experience for Steve.  After the second, with only 7 miles to go, the wind had gone out of his sails.  He tried to overcome it by putting on a stunning display of pulling for 2 plus miles, but to no avail.  The tire gods had cast their shadow on him, and there was no escaping its darkness. 
     The countryside of upstate New York was a mix of farmland and small towns.  We saw a number of cyclists and joggers out today, obvious testament to how New Yorkers are more health conscious.  Living in the state where the center of the universe exists, (NYC), inspires this in an individual.  I would know because I was born here, although at the time I was growing up, we demonstrated this pride by trying to see how many hot dogs we could eat at one sitting.  Once in Batavia, we found an excellent local ice cream shop, Olivers, where we indulged in post ride treats, deserved or not.  I hope this doesn't sound the wrong way but after the miles we've done on this trip, doing 83 miles in a day is just not that much of an effort.  Then it was on to the hotel, which we discovered had changed its ownership from Holiday Inn to Clarion. Apparently the head honchos got tired of the smell of cat piss in the rooms and turned it over to Clarion.   Our rooms weren't ready, but we relaxed in the lobby draping ourselves over the furniture like passengers on a long layover waiting for a plane.  I again won the laundry lottery by arriving in time to be number two in the cue for the washer.  Even better luck is that I arranged with the number 3 person behind me to put my stuff in the dryer when my cycle was done.  I think this will be the last wash I'll do on this trip.  I  have 4 more days of cycling and now exactly 4 more days of clean biking clothes to wear.  It's worked out perfectly.  The end is almost in sight.....at least as far as laundry is concerned. 
     This evening we had dinner at the hotel.  After our experience last night with a meal served so slowly, that you'd think we'd wandered into an alternative universe where time has no meaning, we swore off hotel dining once and for all.   However, a free drink coupon lured us in, suckers that we are, and before we knew it, we had eaten what turned out to be a pretty good meal.  So for the moment, all bets are off with regard to hotel food.  Such is life on the road.  Tomorrow we'll be back at it with a 120 mile ride to Liverpool, NY where I'm told on good authority from my British friends is the birthplace of the Beatles. 


-Grinner

Small town of Harding New York:  (Note the fancy red colored bike lane)

The best damn ice cream parlor in all of Batavia, NY